Edmund Tucker is a man with a lot on his mind these days, but you wouldn't know that just from looking at him.

In fact this 44-year-old native son who became the general manager at the Stonington Beach hotel last Monday hasn't had much time to rest or reflect since he touched down earlier this week. He's been living abroad for the last 18 months.

Meetings, conferences with staff members and tours of the hotel property grounds have consumed much of his waking moments.

Even a reporter's request for a 30-minute interview is scaled back -- "I'll give you 20 minutes,'' he says.

His manner is firm, yet polite. At first he slumps back in an easy chair, but as he warms up his posture straightens and inclines slightly forward. His large hands are pressed together at the palms and fingers as if in prayer.

He unbuttons his tweed jacket and his eyes narrow ever so slightly. Mr. Tucker graduated from the old Bermuda Hotel College in 1970 and worked on the Island as food and beverage manager at the former Holiday Inn Hotel and as a trainee general manager at Cambridge Beaches.

For the past 20 years he has held management positions in a number of hotels in America including his most recent post as general manager of the Cleveland South Hilton Hotel, in Ohio.

Mr. Tucker holds associate membership in the Hotel, Catering and Institutional Management Association and is qualified as a Certified Hotel Administrator by the Education Institute of the American Hotel and Motel Association.

"I've met with all the staff and we talked about Stonington and the way things have been done in the past,'' he said.

"I hope to add, enhance and improve on what is already a very good thing.

"We have a very good staff here. They are wonderful people. I like the Bermudian flair about the hotel. That is very positive.'' Mr. Tucker said he had no immediate plans to make big changes to the way the property is currently run, but he promised to use the next few months to assess what is being done.

"I am not one to come in and make changes quickly,'' he explained. "Although there are little things like repairs that are being addressed and other more subtle things that are needed to make the property look the best that it can.'' He replaced former Stonington general manager William Mulder, who has retired.

Mr. Mulder was the original general manager when the hotel opened in 1980 and he saw the hotel from its origins to the present.

Ever since his formative years as a teenager at Sandys Secondary School where he loathed British history, loved art and tolerated mathematics, Mr. Tucker said he knew he wanted to be a general manager of a hotel.

"You meet many people in this business,'' he continued. "A good cross section of people and you talk about things that are different.

"This generates an interest in other countries and people with different backgrounds. Which is a good thing.'' Asked to select the qualities most needed in a general manager, Mr. Tucker's response is swift, as if he anticipated the question.

"Patience, passion and understanding of what the employees are doing is important,'' he said. "One has to understand what their tasks are and how they interact with guests and other people.

"To be honest I prefer the term associates to employees because we are all in this together.'' Mr. Tucker said that Stonington's dual role as a hotel and an educational facility for the hospitality industry was also an attractive feature of his job.

And he said it would be his goal to ensure that fellow Bermudians who come there to study, get a positive first impression because that was a key ingredient in attracting and retaining young Bermudians in the industry.

"I've been lucky to have been working in hotels,'' he added. "I've been fortunate that I had the opportunity to stay away and I enjoyed the experience.

"I am looking forward to some exciting times here at Stonington. I like the smallness and interacting with guests. I am passionate about hotels. I've done it this long and I will do it for the rest of my life.'' NEW MANAGER -- Edmund Tucker took over as general manager of the Stonington Beach Hotel on Monday.